Pearl's Sword Fighting Lesson(s)
by Adriana Snow
Summary: The other gem rounded on her with a hard swing, but Pearl ducked under her sword easily, seeing an opening. Before she realized what she was doing, Pearl thrust. Her sword went clean through Rose's chest. Pearl's mouth fell open as she met Rose's wide eyes with her own. There was a slight pop and the rose quartz gem fell to the ground with a ping. What had she just done?


Rose Quartz was different. It wasn't just that she'd freed Pearl as soon as she was gifted with her (though that was defiantly something that no other gem would have done) but, she was kind as well. Despite the fact that she'd been given her freedom, Pearl had chosen to remain with Rose. At first it was because she didn't trust that it wasn't a trick and, later, because she found she liked being around the gem. She treated Pearl like she was a real gem. She let Pearl do whatever she wanted. She even encouraged her to read about subjects pearls should never learn about and asked her opinion on things.

It had taken Pearl a while to relax around her, suspicious of the kind behavior at first. But, after a few years, Pearl adjusted to the concept of freedom. She had no idea why she'd been the pearl lucky enough to fall into the hands of Rose Quartz, but she was incredibly grateful.

She was with Rose as much as possible, to the point where Pearl worried she was being too clingy, but Rose never seemed to mind. In fact, she invited Pearl to do things with her, talked with her about everything and nothing, and even hugged her every so often. The relationship was almost a friendship, though Pearl was still cautious to call the connection between a pearl and a quartz warrior by that term.

The amiable relationship between them continued unchanged for quite a while, but, then, Pink Diamond called for a meeting with Rose. Pearl had gone with her, easily slipping back into the role of a pearl during the audience. She was rather impressed with herself considering how different her life had been during the past few years, but Rose seemed disturbed when they arrived back home.

She wouldn't tell her why she was behaving oddly for a few days, despite Pearl's gentle probing. Finally, she voiced the question she'd been holding in for days. "Are all pearls like you?" she asked.

Startled at the abrupt question, Pearl looked up from the space shuttle instruction manual she was reading. "Like me?"

"I-I mean," Rose bit her lip. "Your smart and you have complex feelings and everything," Pearl found herself blushing a bit at the compliment, "but when we were in the meeting with Pink Diamond, you acted just like the other two pearls there. Like you'd never had an original thought in your life."

"It is what is expected," Pearl responded.

"Yes, but it made me wonder, are the other Pearl's like that? Do they think and feel as much as you but have to remain quite all the time?"

Pearl thought about lying for a moment, but then looked into the other gem's eyes with purpose. "Yes," she said simply. "Of course they are."

Pearl watched as Rose's eyes filled up with tears, "Oh," she said. "That's horrible."

"It is," Pearl agreed, a lump in her throat.

Rose thought for a moment. "You know, after all this time, I never really asked you what you wanted to do."

Pearl felt the immediate urge to defend Rose from herself. "You-"

Rose held up a hand. "I let you choose to stay with me and I don't restrict what you do, but I never thought to ask what you wanted."

"I-" Pearl wasn't sure what to say.

Rose peered at her, eyes wide and earnest. "If you could do anything, learn anything, even though you're not supposed to, what would it be?"

Pearl knew her answer to that question. Long before Rose had encouraged her to think for herself, she'd known the answer. Yet, she hesitated. It was a ridiculous thought, but this was Rose and she really wanted to know… "I would want to learn how to fight," she admitted quietly, not looking her in the eye. She almost expected Rose, a combat gem herself, to laugh at her.

No laughter came. "Okay," Rose said. "I'll teach you how to fight."

Almost a year after the first time Rose had handed her a sword, Pearl realized she was stagnating in her training. It discouraged her at first because it seemed that no matter how hard she practiced or how many times she spared with Rose, she wasn't really improving. It didn't matter that after every session Rose congratulated her on her progress. Pearl knew.

She could feel it in her bones that she wasn't getting as good as she should. Maybe it was true. Maybe pearls really weren't able to anything but look pretty and follow orders. What was she thinking trying to fight?

She didn't ask to stop the sessions though. She couldn't. The heavy weight of a sword in her hand, the quick movements (like dancing, but with an actual purpose), even the pain whenever she was nicked by Rose's sword: they called to her and made her feel alive for once. So, she kept practicing and sparing with Rose.

The lack of progress went on for months, vexing Pearl more and more every day, but, then, she started to notice something. They were just little twinges that could at first be put down to tiredness or distraction, but as time wore on, Pearl noticed a pattern. She had studied and studied sword-fighting techniques trying to supplement her lack of physical improvement until she knew everything about every fighting style known to gem kind.

The realization came to her in the middle of one of their sparing sessions. Pearl had tripped up, left herself wide open for attack, but instead of slicing at her stomach like a fighter with any experience would have, Rose swung a wide arch toward her knees giving Pearl a chance to jump back. Comprehension dawned. Rose was hesitating.

Pearl's chest tightened in an emotion that she almost couldn't name. Anger, Pearl thought, she was angry. No, no, not just angry, she was indignant. Pearl had not hit a plateau; Rose had stopped pushing her.

She felt her face flush and her grip on the sword tightened. It felt like a fire had started somewhere in her chest, fueled by years of frustration and abasement. The entire world came into sharper focus as she jumped out of the path of Rose's sword once again. Not that she'd really needed to put forth the effort. Apparently. Her jaw went ridged and her eyes sharpened on her opponent who almost seemed to be moving slower than she had moments before.

Pearl stepped forward and slammed her weapon into Rose's as hard as she could. Of course, with Rose's superior strength, the action did very little, but Pearl had already anticipated that. Rose automatically put too much force into the push back as she would with a larger opponent, but Pearl was much smaller and much faster. Quick as a flash, Pearl withdrew her weapon only to strike back instantly when Rose continued to push forward on a weapon that was no longer there. Rose didn't really stumble, but she was taken off balance enough that Pearl's weapon was able to slice her shoulder. Pearl dodged a hit from the larger woman and danced around her so she was at her back. The other gem rounded on her with a hard swing, but Pearl ducked under her sword easily, seeing an opening. Before she realized what she was doing, Pearl thrust.

Her sword went clean through Rose's chest.

Pearl's mouth fell open as she met Rose's wide eyes with her own. There was a slight pop and the rose quartz gem fell to the ground with a ping.

What had she just done?

The first thing Rose noticed when she regenerated was that she was in her personal practice arena. The second thing she noticed was Pearl on her knees in front of her, her face pressed into the ground. Rose was confused at first. Pearl hadn't slipped into that cowering position since the first few weeks they'd known each other. Then she remembered what had happened. "You poofed me," she said. Her voice wasn't angry, just surprised, dumbfounded even. Even so, Pearl's fingers gripped the ground hard and she flinched.

Rose looked down at her, noting that the sword Pearl had run through her was lying next to her as though it had been dropped by limp fingers as Pearl went to her knees. Rose knelt down next to her. "Did you stay like this the whole time I was in my Gem?" she sighed. It was a good thing no one else was allowed in her arena. "Pearl?" The smaller gem cringed hard when Rose laid a hand on her back. Rose herself flinched at that even though she understood.

She didn't even want to think about what would have happened to any other pearl who accidently poofed any other quartz. It wouldn't be pretty and would probably end in the pearl being ground to a fine dust. That is, if she were lucky.

Rose however, couldn't even dredge up annoyance at the gem in front of her, curled up onto herself like that, waiting for a punishment. This gem had just shoved a sword though Rose's chest, but now, Pearl was shaking like a leaf under her hand. She looked so small and fragile like this: like a strong wind could rip her to shreds. "It's alright, Pearl. Look at me." She gently put her fingers under the woman's small chin to tilt her head up a bit. She wiped away her tears with her thumb. "We were sparing. It's not exactly unheard of for someone to get poofed while practicing."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, her voice hoarse.

"It's okay," Rose reassured her, "It was an accident."

Pearl's eyes darted away from her. "But it wasn't really," she whispered. When Rose didn't say anything for a few moments, she continued in a rush. "I mean, I didn't want to hurt you. It wasn't that. It's just… I was just… I was angry."

"Why were you angry?" Rose asked, confused.

"I haven't been getting any better," she said.

"Oh, Pearl…" she started, but the other looked up at her as she spoke. Her eyes suddenly shone a bit with the anger she had mentioned. It had apparently not completely faded in the days it took her to regenerate.

"It's your fault," she stated in a tone far harder than Rose had ever expected to hear from her. Rose's eyes widened. "I thought it was my fault," Pearl gave a chocked chuckle, "but it's not. It's you. You hesitate. You don't push me. How am I supposed to prove I can do this if you don't even try to teach me how?"

"I…" It was true. Rose did hesitate. But, she hadn't thought about it as sabotaging Pearl. It was just… Pearl was so fragile and Rose didn't want to hurt her. Rose's eyes drifted to the discarded sword beside them. Perhaps fragile was the wrong word.

Pearl looked her dead in the eye when she turned back to her. "If I were a quartz soldier you were supposed to train," she asked, "what would you do?"

Beat you into the ground until you popped, wait for you to reform, and do it again, Rose thought. "You want to treat you like a quartz soldier?" she asked a bit unsure.

Pearls teeth clenched together. "I want you to treat me like a gem."

And suddenly, Rose understood. Treating her as if she was frail wasn't right, nor was treating her like some hard quartz. Neither of those treatments was fair to her nor would they help her learn the only thing she'd ever asked Rose to teach her. Slowly, Rose nodded. "Alright then," she said, getting to her feet. "Get up."

Pearl looked surprise, but got to her feet as soon as she realized what was happening.

"Pick up the sword." The other gem hesitated at that command, glancing at it and then at Rose, but she eventually bent to pick it up.

Rose bend down to pick her own sword off the ground. The two swords met in the middle. Rose looked into Pearl's eyes. "Let's train."

Rose didn't hold back after that. Pearl was pummeled mercilessly during every practice session. Most of the time, Rose stopped short of poofing her, but Pearl quickly found out that wasn't a mercy. Over the course of the next few months, Pearl's back hit the ground again and again. And the fights did not end there. No. She was expected to fight her way back up.

Before she could even take a knee, there'd be a sword in her face, the blunt edge forcing her back down. Sometimes, Rose would let her almost get to her feet before throwing her shield at her stomach with a casual flick of the wrist. It always hit her mark and sent Pearl flying a few feet to hit the ground more winded than before.

Rose never let up and never got winded as she sent Pearl tumbling down repeatedly every practice. It only ended if Pearl managed to get up, the session ended, or Pearl vocalized her defeat.

The last option never happened. Even when Rose asked if she needed to stop.

There were a couple of times where Rose got bored of hitting her repeatedly and simply held her down with her foot on Pearl's chest. It wasn't even a fight then. Rose was too large, too steady on her feet for Pearl to get her off. Pearl just struggled uselessly, as helpless as an insect pinned by its wings, until the end of the session.

Pearl understood the message. Rose was too strong for her. Brute strength would overcome Pearl every time if she allowed herself to get into that position. The trick was to not let Rose get her there.

She learned.

Falls became rolls back up onto her feet. Sword clashes became quick dodges followed by vicious strikes under Rose's defenses. Landing in a pile 20 yards away became gracefully touching down on her toes and having a few seconds to plan before the next attack.

Rose was strong. Pearl was fast.

She spent more and more time on her feet. Every move was more precise and powerful, harder to defend against.

The next time Rose managed to get her foot on Pearl's chest, Pearl managed to summon her weapon for the first time. Ignoring the spear imbedded in her leg, Rose had laughed happily. Though Pearl had already been back on her feet, ready to fight, Rose had refused to spar with her for the rest of the day. Instead, choosing to pick her up and spin her around until Pearl threatened to stab her again if she didn't let her down.

By the time war had broken out, Pearl could take down Quartz soldiers left and right. They fell quickly against an opponent that didn't rely on pure brute strength.

Rose, herself, had learned from Pearl as well. She wasn't as fast as Pearl, but she was faster than any other soldier of her size. No longer relying on brainless force, Rose's strategic fighting style allowed her to take down three gem fusions without even blinking.

Homworld never knew what hit them.

 **AN:** **This was a bit better in my head, but it's still passable. I like the concept a lot. Thanks for reading. I am not the best editor so there may be some minor (hopefully) mistakes.**


End file.
